Saturday 24th June 2017

10 pm BST / 5 pm EST

King Blackthorn’s face was like thunder as he put down the reports from the Commander of the Black Watch and the Royal Detective. The death tolls between the two reports were astronomical. But to find that the beasts had been making use of the dungeons beneath his very castle for one of their bases of operations was a bridge too far. These beasts, and their unseen master would pay. Enough was enough.

A knock at the door jolted him away from his fuming. “Enter!” he barked. A small man, almost naked, his skin covered in a fine white powder, stepped in, followed by a large, heavily armoured guard.

“Sire!” barked the guard “As requested, this individual is here! I shall stand here and guard your Majesty in case he proves difficult, sire!”

At this, the little man casually reached out a hand, grabbed the guard by the belt, flipped him onto his helmet, and strapped his hands and feet together behind his back with the very same belt. He then turned and grinned at the king. “Yes. Very difficult, this one. Indeed. Hallo Black Thorn.”

“I do not believe that will be necessary, guard.” said Blackthorn. “Ghrom here is an old friend of mine. Do not judge him by his appearance. And do get up – you are making my study look most untidy.”

Ghrom made a quick slicing movement with a bone dagger that had somehow found its way into his hand, and the guard found himself free. Bowing out the door, one hand holding his breeches up, the guard quickly excused himself. Ghrom turned and smiled at the king again.

“Old friend, I have great need of your skills. My best men have failed to track these beasts to their source. Are you able to help me? Can you track them?” asked the king.

Ghrom’s smile grew wider, and he produced a rolled up animal skin from his pouch and unfurled it on the table. A map was drawn on it, showing all the old towns. But the map only took up the middle part of the parchment. Around the edges were drawn other shapes, symbols, beyond the edge of the seas. Ghrom’s finger pointed to a spot far to the east of Ice Island, beyond the edge of the seas. “Here.” he said. “Enemy here.”

Blackthorn stared, wondering how he would ever find a ship that could sail off the edge of the world.

Ghrom then produced an aging book from this pouch, opened it, and pointed to a page. The words read “Liedlan spulger idstrinfaun beast fentri chemas”. He also handed Blackthorn a strange item, which turned out to be the dried wing of a bird. Blackthorn raised an eyebrow and gave Ghrom a look of utter incomprehension.

“The spell take Black Thorn up.” he said “Up to where enemy floats in his cave”.

Blackthorn looked at the front cover of the tatty book for a moment. He could just about make out the title : “The book of Amber runes”.

For the first time in what seemed a long time, Blackthorn felt hope growing inside. He smiled, and led Ghrom to meet the commander of the Black Watch.

What you need to know:

• Gates to the event will be provided from the usual locations.
• Town Criers will announce the event as usual.
• A reminder will be made in General Chat an hour before it starts.
• Most of the event will take place outside of the guard zone.
• The Book of Amber Runes is from Ultima III.
• Ghrom is named after one of the earlier UO developers.
• This is not exclusively a Black Watch event, although members of the Watch will get points for attending.